Unique Student Identifier

Detects Unique Student Identifier (USI) patterns. A 10-character alphanumeric code (uppercase letters and digits) mandatory since January 2023 for higher education in Australia. The Purview design inventories the broad bare shape at 65, enforces a labelled value in education context at 75, and reserves 85 for labelled values with authoritative USI/VET record context.

Type: regex
Engine: universal
Confidence: low
Confidence justification: Low confidence: a 10-character uppercase alphanumeric pattern is extremely broad and will match tracking numbers, serial codes, product IDs, and many other identifiers. Corroborative evidence keywords such as USI, student identifier, or TAFE are essential for reliable detection.
Detection quality: Verified
Jurisdictions: au
Regulations: AML/CTF Act (Cth), IPA 2009 (Qld), NDB Scheme (Cth), Privacy Act 1988 (Cth)
Frameworks: ISO 27001
Data categories: pii, government-id
Scope: wide
Risk rating: 6
Platform compatibility: Purview: Compatible, GCP DLP: Compatible, Macie: Compatible, Zscaler: Compatible, Palo Alto: Compatible, Netskope: Compatible

Pattern

\b[A-Z0-9]{10}\b

Corroborative evidence keywords

USI, unique student identifier, student identifier, [object Object], student, transcript, grade, [object Object], enrollment, FERPA, FAFSA, financial aid, tuition, degree

Proximity: 500 characters

Should match

ABC1234567 — Exact 65 discovery probe - bare 10-character shape without a USI label
2K48TF3GHP — Bare standard-format candidate remains discovery-only without a USI label
A1B2C3D4E5 — Bare alternating-format candidate remains discovery-only without a USI label
Student USI: 2K48TF3GHP; TAFE enrolment for Certificate IV. — Exact 75 probe - labelled value with education context but no registry/legislative record evidence
USI Registry AVETMISS record for RTO 30123 - Student USI: 2K48TF3GHP; TAFE enrolment confirmed. — Exact 85 probe - labelled value with education and authoritative registry/VET evidence

Should not match

ABC12345 — Only 8 characters instead of 10
ABC12345678 — 11 characters instead of 10
ABC-123456 — Hyphen breaks the 10-character contiguous alphanumeric run
0412 345 678 — Australian mobile phone number (spaced) is not a 10-char contiguous USI; AU packages also gate phone-shaped literals via the regional exclusion
0000-000000 — Placeholder sentinel value (separated) is not a 10-char contiguous USI and is also excluded by the sentinel filter
The TAFE campus opened a new short course hub. — Education context alone contains no labelled or bare 10-character identifier
Sample template: USI Registry AVETMISS record for RTO 30123 - Student USI: 2K48TF3GHP. — Template text contains high-tier evidence but is vetoed by the shared exclusion
Public guidance at usi.gov.au explains how students create a USI. — Public guidance has no 10-character value
Product serial ABC1234567 appears on the public catalogue. — Sibling serial shape remains discovery-only because it has no embedded USI label

Known false positives

Common words and phrases related to unique student identifier appearing in policy documents, training materials, HR templates, or compliance guidelines without actual personal data. Mitigation: Require corroborative evidence keywords within the proximity window to confirm sensitive data context rather than general discussion.
In Australian English, similar terminology used in formal or administrative contexts (education, professional documentation) that does not constitute sensitive data collection. Mitigation: Layer with additional contextual signals such as structured identifiers, form fields, or database column headers to distinguish sensitive records from general references.
High-frequency pattern matches in large document corpora due to broad regex anchors. Expected match rate is significantly higher than specific identifier patterns. Mitigation: Tune confidence thresholds for bulk scanning. Consider using this pattern primarily as a pre-filter with secondary validation.
Australian mobile and fixed-line telephone numbers can satisfy the broad 10-character alphanumeric USI anchor. Mitigation: Use the AU regional phone-number NONE-of gate for Australian packages and keep USI/education context mandatory for deployed policies.